Dinah, ClinkShrink, & Roy produce Shrink Rap: a blog by Psychiatrists for Psychiatrists. A place to talk; no one has to listen.
All patient vignettes are confabulated; the psychiatrists, however, are mostly real.
--Topics include psychotherapy, humor, depression, bipolar, anxiety, schizophrenia, medications, ethics, psychopharmacology, forensic and correctional psychiatry, psychology, mental health, chocolate, and emotional support ducks. Don't ask. (It's not Shrink Wrap.)

Friday, February 04, 2011

I work with FINS.com, a career resource site owned by The Wall Street Journal. We are launching a new national ad campaign starting this week. We produced a series of videos about failed job interviews and what “not to do” tips. The fourth video in the series called “Strengths” (at http://www.fins.com/Job-Interview-Tips) and is set to begin airing early next week.A couple of us over here enjoy Shrink Rap. We thought that because the video is related to psychiatry, that it would be really cool to get your feedback and other reader’s feedback on the video prior to air date.

Thanks for your time in advance.

----So I watched the video and I thought, "Hey no one ever asks me to go their job interviews!" I watched a few of them: they are cute, and make a quick point, but you know, there is one with the tip Leave your Pets at Home. It shows a guy on an interview with a half dozen sweet dogs and cats, and I did wonder, "Well what about the support duck?" The Silence Your Cell Phone flick was so outrageous, but I don't doubt it happens at all. And Proof Your Resume....well maybe she should have gone with the flow when the interviewer was so impressed with her 'passion for finance' and not said she meant it to read 'passion for her fiance!'

So what do you think of the Strengths video? Are they poking fun of patients and shrinks, or is this something that has really happened and is it a valid tip? Yeah, it pokes fun, but so do all the others. Does it annoy you? Does it increase stigma? Is it cute with a reasonable point to make about how not to advertise one's weaknesses during a job interview?

12
comments:

The ads were intended to be funny, not to show genuine weaknesses of interviewees, in my opinion. I thought it was funny. It caught my attention and it was well acted and well cast. Did you notice the man and woman look a lot alike? The therapist was portrayed as an odd duck without every smiling and making an arm gesture for "intimacy" which was to add to the humor. I liked it.

I totally agree with Sunny CA (wish I was there by the way!). Couldn't have said it much better. I only watched the "Strengths" video so far, but I now want to watch the others. I think the point was well made in an entertaining way.

The "reason" it's funny is because it makes fun of people who are sick and need support and help.

I'm so sick, and need help right now so it hurts my feelings and wasn't very funny. It;s hard enough having a mental illness that no one seems to comprehend, without being made fun of too.

Imagine instead the therapist/support person being a personal and important caregiver for someone with a physical illness (eg., maybe a guide dog for a blind person)...it really wouldn't be funny....aqua

I didn't see it poking fun at patients & shrinks, rather a reminder that you shouldn't quote your therapist and don't treat the interviewer as a therapist. In other words, when they ask about your weaknesses, don't start blabbing about how you sleep poorly because you wet your bed as a five etc.

It was neither funny nor offensive to me. Okay, I guess it is wise to leave your personal issues out of a job interview. What then do people with medical conditions of any kind do? Do you wait until you have the job to tell the boss that you are on dialysis but can get your work done after hours? Same would apply to any condition requiring accomodation in the workplace. I really did not see much point in this ad.

It's not funny if someone needs a therapist with them in an interview but it is funny that a man with a terrible beard, ridiculous hand gestures, and a monotone voice butts in with the answer to a question not directed at him, and which he can only answer after redefining the terms of discussion...

Personally, i've found a session before an important interview can be helpful - manage anxiety, boost confidence, help articulating what support you need, how to deflect discriminatory questions, how to steer around upsetting topics, strategies for in case something goes wrong... That's the tip I'd make a video of:Interviewer: Can you tell me about why you left your previous position?

So the issue of what to do about a real disability is interesting and difficult. Here, it's portrayed as a joke....don't bring your therapist, don't mention you can't be in elevators or in rooms with a certain number of people, etc. Weird and funny stuff.

Okay, but what if you've been treated for cancer and might need close follow-up, appointments every three months with your oncologist, labs, an occasional scare that might require some tests and imaging and follow up appointments. And what if your cancer and it's treatment have left you so that once in a while you just can't manage a full day of work? Oh, this is a psychiatry blog, you say? Well what if you periodically have severe panic attacks and have to pull to the side of the road and this makes you late to work, or you need to go to bi-weekly therapy appointments, or your depression is fine right now, but you've had a history of relapses where you've missed a bunch of days of work and the chances are good that you might relapse again.

If an employer is telling you that punctuality and total 9-5 reliability are essential, is it reasonable to not mention that you've had some chronic health problems that might recur? That it's possible you'll need to go to the doctor during business hours, especially if you'd be likely to be able to make them up at other times? Or should you not even bother with a job that lacks flexibility? What if you're the greatest person for the job and it for you? Do we get a video on how to deal with presenting those problems?Dinah